Change is hard, but a long time coming for Los Osos

June 17, 2024

OPINION by JULIE TACKER

The headlines read, “Building moratorium could be lifted” and then “Coastal Commission approves plan to lift Los Osos building moratorium.” What reporters didn’t say is that there is not a “building moratorium” presently or in the recent past.

The only actual building moratorium was established in 1983 by the Regional Water Quality Control Board when it passed Resolution 83-13. Over the ensuing five years, the County of San Luis Obispo, as the land use authority, allowed approximately 1,150 homes to be built in Los Osos (230 homes a year) using septic systems. Since 1988, septic systems were prohibited in the urban area, also known as the prohibition zone.

The impacts of this rapid development harmed our only source of water, the groundwater basin. The issues were two-fold, one, with little to no understanding of “water conservation,” the first generation of low flow toilets were mandated in California in 1992. The fixtures in the pre-1988 homes were water hogs, each flush used anywhere from 3 to 6 gallons of water to do one’s business and showerheads gobbled up to 5 gallons per minute. This was a tremendously wasteful time.

Two, the nitrates in our waste such as human, soaps and fertilizers, were polluting our upper aquifer, a section of the basin we had once used for drinking. The plan is to use this part of the aquifer again someday once diluted and meets potable standards.

The infamous Los Osos sewer wars were never really about sewage, they were always about water quality and quantity.

In 2016, the prohibition on septic systems was addressed with the construction of the $200 million Los Osos Recycled Water Facility (LOWRF) was built and operational.

A de facto moratorium, specific to the prohibition zone, was a result of the Coastal Commission condition of approval dubbed “special condition six” which was attached to the water recycling facility permit that required demonstration that the groundwater basin could sustain new development, with buildout limits before new hook ups would be allowed.

With the efforts outlined below, the county presented its evidence on June 13th, and was able to convince the Coastal Commission that we, as a community, have more than met the test.

Over the last two decades, since Los Osos water purveyors litigated and settled by a court approved judgement, millions of dollars and thousands of man/woman-hours, have contributed to the Los Osos Groundwater Basin Management Plan, including citizen input.

The 2023 Annual Monitoring Report shows the Herculean efforts by all involved have been successful in adapting groundwater well pumping schemes, replacing thousands of high flow plumbing fixtures, and retiring old wells and building new ones, to preserve and care for the basin. The monitoring and management trends are favorable.

In 1972, the population of Los Osos was approximately 3,500 and groundwater production by water purveyors was about 970-acre feet per year. Then peak urban demand soared to 2,560-acre feet in 1988 and has dropped to 1,016-acre feet in 2022 — a reduction of more than 60%.

Today, Los Osos uses essentially the same amount of water it did in 1972, currently with a population of 14,200. There is still water to be conserved, new development, at its cost, will be required to off-set its water use by 2:1. New development will actually save more water for Los Osos than it uses today.  In addition, new development is slated to pay for the majority of costs associated with adding State Water as a second source for Los Osos which will complement our groundwater supply.

The 1% residential growth rate the county will approve in the near term equates to approximately 60 new homes (a combined mix of multi-family and single-family) per year. With today’s high cost of construction and interest rates, it is unlikely we would see 60 homes under construction in any given year.

There are several public process steps ahead for the County before any new permits for vacant parcels are considered.  The County’s Resource Management System will be amended to reduce Los Osos’ Level of Severity III, to a less severe state, the Growth Management Ordinance will need to be amended to reflect this new growth rate, and jump-start the Los Osos Habitat Conservation Plan, all of this takes time.

New development brings revenue to the county. These new homes will pay their fair share of the LOWRF, reducing the cost to the current users. The new development will increase property tax revenue and pay impact fees to the county to provide park, school, traffic, habitat conservation, and public facilities (for library and emergency services) to be utilized for infrastructure improvements and further establish and maintain the greenbelt in Los Osos that we all use and enjoy.

Change is hard, but a long time coming for Los Osos.